News Corp. PAC hands out cash

In the first month after a phone hacking scandal rocked News Corp., four congressional campaign committees or leadership PACs received contributions from the political action committee of the company’s American subsidiary, newly filed federal campaign documents show.

The Good Fund, a leadership PAC sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), received the largest contribution from the News America/Fox political action committee, at $3,000.

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The Effective Leadership PAC and Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) each received $1,000, while Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) took in $500.

The campaign finance filing report also offered no indication that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has long sponsored a “Fact Check Fox” campaign highly critical of Fox News Channel, has returned a $15,000 contribution it received in late June from the News America/Fox PAC.

The DCCC, which has not yet released its July campaign finance reports, may have pocketed, donated or otherwise divested of this money. But to date, the DCCC won’t say, refusing to answer numerous phone and email inquires by POLITICO.

The $5,500 in contributions the News America/Fox PAC made to federal candidates or committees during June is modest by its own standards. For the year, the PAC has made $135,851 in disbursements.

The PAC did take in more than $19,400 in its own contributions, reporting 212 separate transactions for the month. Most of these were two- or small three-figure donations made by executives at various News Corp. properties, including News America, Fox Cable News Services and Twentieth Century Fox, among others.

News Corp. has been under unprecedented public and governmental fire in Great Britain following revelations this summer that employees allegedly hacked into the phones of numerous people, including British royalty and a kidnapped child. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch last month testified before the British Parliament regarding the scandal, saying the experience was “the most humble day of my life.”